carpe diem
by januarylightsphere
Summary: courage doesn't always roar - red, leaf, burningleafshipping, apocalypse au.


**title:** **carpe diem** \- seize the day.

 **disclaimer:** it's very fortunate that pokemon doesn't belong to someone like me.

 **pairing:** red/leaf, burningleafshipping, and Apocalypse AU because I run out of idea.

 **note:** i'm sorry if i didn't do the pairing justice, because even though i really really like burningleafshipping, i've always been into the protagonist/rival relationships.

...

...

okay kanto trio is my ot3.

please enjoy your reading.

still, what's this? product of writing at 3AM?

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The stars are falling again but there are only three tonight. From this grassy hill in the middle of nowhere, you catch sight of numerous balls of fire that crash through the night. Without fail, you wish on every single one you see because it makes everything seem like it will get better.

The reason why there are only three stars falling tonight is because there are hardly any left. This situation has been going on for the past decade, since you were six, too young to remember everything, but old enough to never forget.

Last night you counted five. Five stars. Five wishes. You have been counting those falling stars for the past year. Every night is spent on this hill. You don't have school to worry about because the schools are all shut. You should be spending your remaining time with your parents but they left to join some research team in vain. At home, it's just you and your pets but they're all slowly dying and you can't bear to witness their demise. And your childhood friends constantly phone you to say that everything will be okay, but even you don't see his face or know where he is, you know Green also feels unsure, also feels helpless. You think maybe it's good that you don't meet him most days. Green's eye color is the representation of life, and you can't bear looking at them.

"Hey."

You turn around and there is this stranger. No one has ever come here before. And it would be a lie if you didn't feel annoyed. You eye this boy your age in front of you. He has black hair and a red cab, eyes as red as the fire engraved in your mind, and he's wearing loose blue jeans and red jacket. Subconsciously, you pick your hat and think it may take you some time to look at him into the eye.

He doesn't really notice.

You take a deep breath before asking. "Who're you?"

He does not answer you.

You try again. "What're you doing here?"

"What're _you_ doing here?" He returns.

You shrug. "Waiting for this to be all over." You answer and you still don't look at him.

"Everything?" He asks.

"Yes."

You glance at him in time to see him smile. It's not a proper smile. It's a sad smile, the kind people smile after they've told you bad news and said they are sorry and everything will be okay. "Me too." He says.

"Waiting by yourself?" You ask.

A frown falls upon his face. "Aren't you doing that too?" He says defensively.

You raise your eyebrows. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant..." You hesitate, you can't believe you're hesitating. "I meant... Do you want to wait with me?"

He blinks repeatedly, and you have the sudden urge to dig a hole and bury yourself immediately. Finally, after long moments of consideration, he smiles a real smile for the first time you have seen from him and his face lights up. "Sure." He says to you.

You return his smile and for the first time in a very long time, you think this whole apocalypse thing won't be so bad after all.

"I'm Leaf, nice to meet you."

"Red." He replies, and you two shake hands.

(Red's eye color represents fire, you think later, at night in your lonely home, destructive fire and falling stars, simultaneously.)

The following night you wait for him. You wait until two o'clock and the four star has already fallen by the time he arrives. He gives you a small smile and allows you to have a piece of his mind before shutting himself off again.

"Didn't think you'd make it." You say.

He doesn't answer that. Instead, he asks. "Leaf, how long do you think we have left?"

You think about this and answer. "Maybe a month, if we are lucky."

He nods.

"Are you scared?" You ask.

"Of what?" He looks at you and you think you see fire in his eyes.

"Of dying. Like this."

"No." He says certainly, eyes brighter than ever before. "We're going to die anyway, our time is just being cut a little short, after all." Years older than you, he continues. "We're dying with the rest of the world. We won't be alone. We won't be the only ones suffering."

"We will all die alone in the end, though." You say quietly, despite something in your mind that is screaming at you not to defy Red. "No matter how many people suffer along with us."

Red just shrugs and turns away.

Two days later, there is an earthquake, and you've quite been used to it. It's not the first and it is definitely not the last. The whole town shakes violently. After several lifetimes, or minutes, or seconds, you can't tell, the first building falls and it creates a domino effect. As the ground cracks beneath your feet, you think that maybe you shouldn't have gone to get the groceries today. After all, who can die by not eating just a day?

As all the screams and the sirens blur into one huge, never ending cry for help. all you can think of is how to get the hell out of there. So you run. And you see others running too, and you hope they will be lucky in their attempts to get away. You just need to get the hell out of there. Your parents want you to be safe, and Green wants you to be safe and you need to meet Red, that's why you can't die here. You can't die before the end of the world. You don't know how you manage it without getting crushed. All you know is you did.

By nightfall, you are back on the hill, looking at the scattered town lights. From here, they look like they are on fire, burning, ablaze. Or maybe some of those lights really are fires, you can't tell. They remind you of Red's eyes, which almost makes you half wish he wouldn't come tonight. Just almost.

And that night, he does not turn up at all.

For seven days, you wait for him. Every night, you sit on that hill and wish upon every falling star that he is still alive. You hope that maybe he has just forgotten about you. But even so, you're not hopeful enough for that.

On the eighth night, you have given up all hope. You continue to count stars. By now, you feel like wishing on the ones still in the sky because it makes everything seem like it will be luckier.

"Six." Remarks a voice behind you.

You do not turn around, only ask where he has been. You can almost taste his hesitation.

It's bitter.

"There were... complications." He says slowly but evenly. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry." You repeat. "You're sorry. I have been sitting here every night for seven days and I was so sure you were dead and all you can say is sorry?" You do not know why you feel so strongly for this stranger - yes, he's Red and he's a stranger - because after all, you know little to nothing about him. The look in his eyes tells you he also does not why you seem to care so much. You just do.

He flinches beside you. 'It wasn't my fault,' he says and you reply coldly, 'Spare it,' and get up and walk away, but not without the feeling that his eyes burn after you.

Now you do not feel anger. All you feel is regret.

Exactly twenty-four hours later, you come back. And you are so glad and so relieved that he is there. You apologise and he just smiles at you and says, "Five." Five wishes.

"Why are you here?" You ask.

"I was waiting for you,'' he answers, "So we can wait for the world to end together."

Suppressing your smile, you say. "How do you think it will happen?"

"Me? I think a star will land here and blow us up or the Earth will just tear itself apart without bothering any force."

"We're the closet planet to the sun after Mercury and Venus are out." You say. "We could get roasted."

"Or the rest of the world would flood." He adds. Half of the total landmass has already been submerged. The polar icecaps are melt a century before you were born and you have only seen the picture of classic earth.

"Or die of hunger." You say.

"Or an earthquake will tear us apart."

"Or a meteor with collide with us, and we could like like dinosaurs." And you go on like this for the rest of the night.

Another time, he says. "What's one thing you wished you did before your death?"

"I always wanted to write a book." You say. "What about you?"

He ignores that and says. "Then write a book."

"Now?"

"Yes." He says. "Tell me a story. I don't care what, just tell me one."

So tell him of a time when everything was perfect. There were icy cold winter and burning hot summer and there were bright stars in the sky and there were two little children running on the hill and planning their futures and vowing to support each other to the end of the world and it was so beautiful and so perfect and you can most believe it was real.

Then another star falls, burning through the sky.

Red's eyes reflect it.

"That's the seventh one tonight." He says. "The end must be near."

With the two of you on this hill, just sitting like this, you think it wouldn't be a bad way to die, watching the stars.

"Before I was born, my grandmother had a really beautiful hawthorn garden." You say. "No they all die and the seeds can't be bought anymore."

You do not have long left.

xxx

"This is it." You say, and the two stars fall at the same time. The tenth and the eleventh ones tonight.

"Are you afraid?" He asks.

"I don't know." You say, earnestly.

"Leaf." He calls your name, and it's the first time you've ever looked at his eyes that close. "You and me, we're going out together, right?"

You smile at him because you cannot find the right word, and maybe there is no the right word for this.

"I'm glad I met you." He says, as a star falls, miles behind your back. The forest is on fire.

Red's eyes look like fire, beautiful and dangerous.

"Me too." You tell him and it seems important that he knows, you say. "I'm glad I'm not dying alone."

He lies down and you follow suit. He pulls you into him so you're both facing each other. An asteroid shoots across the sky above you. The sky is on fire with sounds and lights. Everyone on earth is looking at the same thing you are. It's mindblowing and phenomenal and it's downright terrifying.

With the sky falling and fire burning around you and him next to you, you think it's the perfect way to write the final chapter of your life.

A perfect epilogue.

You turn the last page and whisper. "Welcome to the end of the world."

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 **author note: i wrote it 3AM and I was so dizzy and it kind of didn't make any sense at all.**

 **please drop a review and understanding my 3AM mood.**


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